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Emergence Of A New Normal: The Online Bar Association

May 9, 2011

SPurani | lposavvy.info:: Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending and participating in the Inaugural Meeting of The Online Bar. It was an enlightening experience that opened my mind to many new perspectives around the central theme, “Unveiling the Future of Law & Emerging Models for Legal Services”. Flying in from the cooler Northeastern U.S. into South Florida, the experience left me with a sense of warmth in more ways than one. It was apparent from the start of the conference that those in attendance were not only forward thinking individuals, but also those who looked to influence change in the legal profession across jurisdictional, international, and traditional boundaries associated with the practice of law.

Many topics were explored over the three day conference by both practicing and non-practicing attorneys alike. And perhaps the most intriguing for me was a workshop session where all in attendance scratched the surface of unveiling various flavors of legal service delivery models. As the rest of the conference was an intimate dialogue between selected panelists and those in attendance, the workshop involved everyone equally to work in groups and develop delivery service models from scratch. This ultimately provided the greatest insight into the out-of-the-box thinking which prevailed in the minds of all attendees.

Of course, I would have been remiss to not carry (and wildly wave) the legal process outsourcing flag during this exercise. But in fact I was not the only one to insert and show the value LPO would have in various legal service delivery models. Of the many groups who demonstrated their innovative legal service models, legal outsourcing was represented within multiple value-added approaches.

A few personal take-aways from the overall event:

A willingness to take (some) calculated & educated risks.

The desire to stretch the boundaries of traditional legal service models.

Constant expression of thought leadership while keeping an eye on the ethical standards of law practice.

And finally – The observation that lawyers actually can be business people too.

Kudos to the The Online Bar founders Mayra & Jorge Colon, who put forth a tremendous amount of thought and planning into making the three day event a huge success and helping to shape the discussion of a ‘new normal’ within the ever changing legal landscape.